Brett Ratner to Direct Hugh Hefner Biopic

Brett Ratner's doing what now?
Brett Ratner has signed on to direct a biopic all about Playboy founder Hugh Hefner. Ratner is known for directing mostly action movies like Rush Hour, so he's probably just the "man's man" for the job.

Ratner says:
"'Hef came from a puritanical upbringing and reinvented himself to be the godfather of the sexual revolution,' Ratner told Daily Variety. 'He also used his magazine to advocate civil rights and free speech, and put James Brown on his show 'Playboy After Dark' when they didn't put black performers on national television. He broke all kinds of taboos, especially in sexuality.'"

Why I care:
Having started a confusing love affair with the E! series "The Girls Next Door," I have acquired this intense fascination with Hugh Hefner. Where there was once vague annoyance toward the man who's made millions exploiting women's bodies, there is now a strange curiosity.

Why?
He's super old. He has three girlfriends around whom he behaves like an affectionate, sometimes confused grandpa. Every so often he'll talk about "his girls" with great fondness, and he makes comments like "I'm in a really good place right now... This is the best time of my life." I have to wonder if he is referring to the fact that his current situation — living with his three main girls — is really like a family situation in which he can play daddy, sugar daddy and granddaddy at any given time. And yet, to some people he's still a sex symbol. I'm not interested in reliving Hefner's successes photographing naked ladies, but I am interested to see how he went from that to this wrinkled old man with a reality TV show. I look forward to this movie.